These matcha white chocolate chip cookies are thick, super soft, fudgy, and chewy, with delightful notes of Japanese green tea and lemon. The lovely spring green color of the cookies is simply beautiful! The sweet, melt-in-your-mouth white chocolate chunks complement the slightly bitter matcha taste perfectly. If you’re a fan of matcha desserts, then these cookies are the ultimate treat for you.
The perfect chocolate chip cookie texture
Everyone has their own preference for the texture of cookies, but I personally prefer them to be thick, soft, and slightly chewy. I spent a crazy amount of time to find that perfect texture while developing my Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe, and I applied my findings to create matcha cookies as well. However, is it possible to avoid the need for tweaks and experiments? While dark brown sugar adds chewiness and caramel notes to basic cookies, it sadly ruins the lovely green color of matcha cookies. Hence, this time I opted to use only light brown sugar and added a bit of liquid to enhance moistness and chewiness without compromising the lovely green color.
What type of matcha to use?
The brightness of color and intensity of matcha taste will depend on the type of matcha you choose. There are two main types of matcha: ceremonial and culinary. Ceremonial matcha is the highest quality matcha, made from the youngest matcha leaves. Highest quality = highest price. Save this one to enjoy from a cup and choose the cheaper culinary matcha for cookies and other bakes. But… Culinary matcha quality also varies a lot. For this recipe, any type of culinary matcha will work, but keep in mind that the higher the quality (and price), the more intense the color and taste will be in the cookies. Ultimately, the choice is yours.
If you are not a fan of matcha
I personally love Japanese tea, but I don’t enjoy matcha as its taste is too strong for me. However, I still love the taste of matcha in desserts. These cookies have a well-balanced and pleasant matcha flavor that is paired with a hint of lemon. Even those who don’t typically enjoy matcha will surely love these cookies!
Matcha White Chocolate Chip Cookies
These matcha white chocolate chip cookies are thick, super soft, fudgy, and chewy, with pleasant Japanese green tea and lemon notes.
- Prep Time10 min
- Bake / Cook Time12 min
- Total Time22 min
- Yield10-12 cookies
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake Layers
- 160 g / 5.6 oz wheat flour (all-purpose or plain)
- 1.5 tbsp matcha powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 100 g / 3.5 oz white chocolate
- 120 g / 4.2 oz unsalted butter (melted)
- 100 g / 3.5 oz light brown sugar (granulated)
- 1 medium egg
- 2 g / 0.07 oz grated lemon zest (of half a lemon)
- ½ tbsp lemon juice
Directions
Clean the lemon thoroughly with a sponge and grate the zest (yellow part only).
Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and matcha powder in a bowl. Mix everything together well and set aside.
Using a knife chop chocolate coarsely. Set aside.
Melt the butter and combine it with sugar in a bowl.
Add egg, lemon zest, and lemon juice, and whisk well until combined.
Add flour mixture, and chocolate chunks and mix everything until the dough comes together. You will get a greasy and soft dough. Cover the bowl and move it to the fridge for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.
Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F (without a fan). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Remove the dough from the fridge. If you refrigerate it for a longer time, it will be stiff, so let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes till you can spoon it. Use a cookie scoop or a tablespoon to portion the dough, and shape balls from it with your hands. Transfer the dough balls onto a baking sheet, leaving generous space around them, and lightly press them with a flat spatula or your hand to slightly flatten them.
Bake one sheet at a time in the middle rack of the oven for 10-12 minutes or till the edges set, but the cookies are still very soft in the middle.
Let cookies cool for 5 minutes on a baking sheet. When they get stiff enough to be lifted, carefully move them onto a rack to cool completely.
notes
- In case you don’t have baking soda, use ½ teaspoon of baking powder.
- Refrigerating the dough for at least 2 hours is essential to control cookie spread in the oven. Warm and soft dough would spread a lot faster and you would get big, thin, and crispy cookies.
- These cookies do not spread much, so I recommend flattening the dough balls before baking. You will still get pretty thick and soft cookies.
- The exact baking time depends on the size of your cookies, the number of cookies on a baking sheet, and your oven. Trust the look of the baking cookies more than a timer.
- This recipe is a small batch, but you can easily double, triple, or quadruple it if you like. You can also freeze flattened dough balls and bake them later. There’s no need to thaw them, simply bake frozen dough balls for a minute or so longer.
